The only states that can withstand the PAS onslaught are Penang, Selangor and Johor but not for long… all the three states will fall by the 2032 election.
– savemalaysia blog
Political pundits and analysts – left and right – have been trying to explain the surge of votes for Malaysian Islamic Party (PAS) – part of the Perikatan Nasional (PN) coalition in the recent 15th general election.
The party managed to obtain the highest of number of seats – 49, which in itself was double their seat haul in the previous general election.
PAS has been at the receiving end of criticism over its hardline stand on the interpretation of Islamic law and during the campaign period.
It was a perfect storm – the resentment of the Malays towards their grand old party, United Malays National Organisation (UMNO), the fear of the community towards a federal government controlled by the Democratic Action Party (DAP) in the last GE as well as the boom in popularity of PAS being a part of PN.
The last part was largely attributed to the coalition’s massive inroads and promotion on social media platform TikTok.
To understand the dilemma of the Malays post GE14, we have to understand the ill-treatment of the community during the Pakatan Harapan-controlled federal government of 2018 until 2020.
A number of aids introduced during the Barisan Nasional (BN) reign – tailor made for the benefit of the B40 community, which is largely made up of Malays and Bumiputeras – were discontinued.
Institutions which acted as safeguards for the future of the Malay community were challenged by PH leaders – who were on a tight leash by their voters who wanted reforms.
At the same time, conversations at the time during PH’s height in power did not favour the Malays – the community was largely marginalised and being ridiculed – branded as poor, lazy and to an extent, in favour of corruption.
All these were untrue – but the administration at the time promoted this narrative that favours the urban Malays as opposed to those living in more rural areas.
It was probably their thinking that they wanted to shape the future Malays towards being more progressive and being open to criticisms.
But this did not happen, the Malays were disenchanted and in a big way. Against this background, the Muafakat Nasional (MN) charter was established.
Ultra-Malay PH leaders who themselves found to be limited by their own government at the time, also lent their support – their reasoning was that it was for Malay unity.
As the disenchantment grew, followed by the back-to-back wins by BN in collaboration with PAS in by-elections who championed the voices of the Malays, plans were mooted for the then PH federal government to be replaced.
Bersatu, a component of PH, pulled out from the federal government, leading to its collapse, followed by a faction from PKR led by Datuk Seri Azmin Ali – who was growing weary of attacks from inside the party.
The new coalition, dubbed PN, rode on the Malay wave until it too collapsed at the hand of factions within UMNO itself.
Fast forward to GE15 – the Malays although firm in their cause to restore a Malay-centric federal government did not favour UMNO which was seen as having a lot of baggage due to its current leadership.
The wanted a Malay party to lead the government, and in some way, PN – Bersatu and PAS – provided that. It was a compromise on their part.
Polling made by think-tanks projected that BN would end up with 30 seats at most. This was inevitable as the GE15 reflected that.
Newton’s third law of motion has been largely cited in political discussions by leaders in PAS whereby for every action, there is an opposite and equal reaction.
This was true – as the Malays felt they are being supressed and marginalised by left-leaning parties; they find comfort in voting further to the right of the political spectrum.
While no one batted an eye on such, the fear of a polarised society materialised when contents of harmful nature such as the May 13 riots were being circulated on TikTok, potentially disrupting race-relations in the country.
Probably, this potential danger was recognised by the Malay rulers themselves who then mooted the idea of a unity federal government.
Parties in Sarawak and Sabah which are largely unaffected by this were open to the idea and supported it for the interest of the two states.
While there is no guarantee that Malaysia would eventually return to being a centrist society after the political bloodbath, this was the correct decision.
Amid the uncertainties of today’s world, we must be united and able to have discussions across the political divide.
The views expressed here are those of the columnist and do not necessarily represent the views of New Sarawak Tribune.
